Revelation
by Ceiphied Knight
Summary: Short story incorporating scenes from the script for "Skin Deep" that did not make it to the screen. All Rumbelle all the time. Belle's POV.


**Revelation**

_**A/N:** OK, I have problems. Those eleven seconds of sexiness, combined with some changes brought forth from the script…my feels couldn't be contained. So I did something that I am actually vehemently against…and I wrote a short story based on that scene and some of the ideas taken from the script. You see, I've always disliked stories that take place in the exact moment that shit is happening in the actual show/movie/whatever. Because it's kinda like…yeah, okay, I don't need to read this. I watched this already. But this new information begged for me to do SOMETHING with it. So I did this. Belle's POV._

_(For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, there is a preview floating around of a particular cut scene from Skin Deep that is sexy as hell.)_

* * *

Belle wandered lazily around the Great Room, feeling Rumplestiltskin's eyes on her.

He watched her more these days. Never with malice or any other dark intentions that everyone else in the realm would have believed him capable of. No, he watched her with something akin to fascination. Or at least a healthy interest.

She watched him, too. She watched him spin at his wheel with a faraway look in his eyes. She watched his long, slim fingers effortlessly turn plain straw into glistening gold.

And she wondered.

Why had he wanted a caretaker? And why her? What made her so special?

He was so secretive, she would probably never know.

"What's this one?" she asked, holding up a golden lamp she had been dusting. It was covered in jewels and looked quite expensive.

"Ah, be careful with that one, dearie. No rubbing. You might end up with wishes."

Belle smiled sardonically at the Dark One and replied, "And we wouldn't want wishes, would we?"

Rumplestiltskin grinned back. "Indeed not."

She crossed the room and looked up at what seemed to be a blanket of some kind, in a beautiful golden color. Was everything of his made of gold?

"And this?" she asked, indicating the item.

"That," Rumplestiltskin began, standing and walking over to her, "is the Golden Fleece. It's said to be from a magical, gold sheep that flies around and rescues children."

"Oh," Belle said, surprised. "Does it work?"

At that, the sorcerer's face seemed to go completely blank, and Belle wondered what she had said.

"No," he replied after a moment, his voice soft and deeper than she had ever heard it.

As he turned to stalk back to his wheel, Belle's curiosity finally got the best of her.

"Why did you want me here?"

Rumplestiltskin paused, but kept his back to her for several heartbeats. Then, he turned and gave her a sarcastic little smirk.

"The place was filthy."

Belle rolled her eyes and walked over to one of the large windows that reached all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Spring had finally arrived, and the sunlight filtering through the glass warmed her.

She felt rather than heard Rumplestiltskin appear behind her. Without turning around, Belle thought she might as well press her luck.

"I think you were lonely. I mean, any man would be lonely."

"I'm not a man," he said into her right ear. She shivered, but not from fright.

Continuing on, she said, "I've had a few months to look around, you know. And upstairs I found some clothing. It's…small. As if for a child? Was it yours, or was there a son?"

Rumplestiltskin was silent for so long that Belle nearly turned around and apologized for even asking, but he finally responded in that painfully quiet voice, "There was. There was a son. I lost him, as I did his mother."

"I'm sorry," Belle said, just as quietly. She finally turned to face him as she added, "So you were a man, once? An ordinary man?"

This time, the Dark One was silent for so long that he seemed determined to never answer. Slightly exasperated, Belle pressed on. "Come on, if I'm never going to know another person in my whole life, can't I at least know you?"

"Perhaps," Rumplestiltskin finally said, "Perhaps you just want to learn the monster's weaknesses." He grinned and wagged a finger in her face as an admonishment.

It sounded as if he was only half-joking, so Belle answered very seriously. "You're not a monster. You think you're uglier than you are, that's why you cover all the mirrors up…isn't it?"

Before he could respond, she strode away from him and over to the tall object in the far corner that she knew to be a mirror. She knew, more from instinct (she had had a similar one back home) than from actually having seen it, but nonetheless she had often wondered why the sorcerer kept such a heavy covering over it. So of course she had come to her own conclusion.

Just as she reached up to pull the covering off of the mirror, Rumplestiltskin appeared behind her again, but this time she felt strong hands on her waist as she was pulled flush against him. Their distance from before had completely disappeared, and Belle let out a silent gasp.

"There are other reasons for covering mirrors, Belle."

He so rarely used her name, and his voice was so soft in her ear, that she was nearly struck dumb.

Nearly.

"What happened…to your family?" Belle heard herself asking, turning her head just slightly toward the sorcerer. His hands had not left her waist.

"What happened," he said, "Is that I'm a difficult man to love."

His voice rumbled against the side of her head, and she felt his heart beat against her back. At the word "love," Belle found herself sucking in a sharp breath.

Something was happening. Something that hadn't been there before.

She pushed up against him, just slightly harder, and his hands began to flutter down towards her hips. She opened her mouth to respond, to tell him that he wasn't that difficult to love…

…And there was a knock on the door.

Rumplestiltskin jumped back as if he'd been burned, and the moment was broken.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded at Belle, then spun on his heel and left to answer the door.

Belle bit her bottom lip and tried to steady her breathing.

Yes, something very interesting was happening, indeed…


End file.
